US Daily Fantasy Sports Update: Delaware, New York and Tennessee

Across the United States, lawmakers are grappling with what should be done about daily fantasy sports.

Most state lawmakers agree that something needs to be done but solutions vary widely from state to state. Here’s a quick look at lawmakers in Delaware, New York and Tennessee are dealing with daily fantasy sports legislation in their states.

Delaware
In Delaware, the state’s Department of Justice recently sent out letters to daily fantasy sports provide such as DraftKing, FanDuel and Yahoo! Sports reminding them that real-money daily fantasy sports contests are currently illegal under state law.

The letter further states the State’s opinion that daily fantasy sports are a game of chance, not skill.

DOJ officials had been waiting for Delaware lawmakers to take some sort of action on the daily fantasy sports issue and, when no action was taken, they went forward with their “reminders”.

Delaware, it should be noted, is one of three US states where regulated online gambling is legal.

New York

In New York, state lawmakers and daily fantasy sports operators have been operating under a semi-truce wherein operators suspended real-money tournaments until lawmakers cam up with a bill to regulate their businesses.

The truce was set to expire on July 1, at which time it was hoped that Governor Andrew Cuomo would have signed the state’s daily fantasy sports bill into law. As of this writing the bill, which imposes a 15.5% tax on operators.

As of this writing, the bill is still sitting on Governor Cuomo’s desk and the deadline has been moved to July 31.

Tennessee is hardly known as the most progressive US State but when it comes to daily fantasy sports legislation, the Volunteer State is leading the pack.

Late last week, Tennessee changed the name of its Division of Charitable Solicitations and Gaming to the Division of Charitable Solicitations and Gaming and put the office in charge of enforcing its newly enacted daily fantasy sports regulations.

The legislation itself isn’t particularly radical or unusual (it mostly involves basic licensing and the segregation of player funds) but is noteworthy as some of the first of its kind in the country.